


Closed in

by gingerbatch33



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Case Fic, Connor feels bad, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Hurt/Comfort, Mild Gore, Mild Language, Not Beta Read, One Shot, Panic Attacks, like really bad, short case fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-07-04 16:50:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15845379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingerbatch33/pseuds/gingerbatch33
Summary: Hank and Connor are on a case that turned out to be a bit more complicated then first thought and Connor experiences some side effects of becoming a deviant.





	Closed in

**Author's Note:**

> I enjoy the father and son relationship between Hank and Connor so much! I just HAD to write some myself!
> 
> Please keep in mind that English is not my first language and that my spelling and grammar is really horrible. I just wanted to give Connor a really bad time and let him suffer in a nice way. (Sorry)

 

„I swear to god! If they keep assigning me these fucking cases I will set a fire in the fucking office! I’m not even kidding!”

 

Hank’s mood was not the best. Even though the Lieutenant was swearing loudly, Connor was secretly smiling as they drove from the police station to their next case. Not even half an hour ago they had been assigned a break-in case, but neither of them had been sure if it would turn out to be one. A worried citizen had called to report an android who apparently had broken into her neighbour’s house. This had been reason enough to send their only Android-Detective and his partner to question the caller.

 

Hank abruptly stopped the car and practically ran out of the car. Connor opened the car door on his side with slightly less fury as his partner and took in the view. The house they had parked in front of had seen better days. The paint on the wall was fading and the garden had not been watered for quite some time.

 

“I just don’t get it why they would even bother to send me here!” said Hank as he slammed the door and walked around the car to make his way to the front door.

 

Connor had to admit that a _grumpy Hank_ was not his _favourite Hank_ , but it was still better than when his partner was silent and showed signs of depressive behaviour. After working with Hank for quite some time they had become friends and Connor was proud to think about that he had a pretty good idea of the specific types of depressive moods Hank could be in.

 

Connor didn’t like when Hank was quiet. He never knew where he was in his head and this meant he was not able to help him. Getting angry at something trivial like the case they were working on right now was a reaction Connor understood. Hence the smiling.

 

Three sharp knocks could be heard, and Connor got pulled back from inside his mind to the case. Hank was already standing right in front of the door and had left Connor by the car. Slowly he made his way to the front door where Hank’s posture was blocking the view to the entrance.

 

Connor didn’t mind standing behind Hank if the case would turn out to be as simple as the Lieutenant had predicted. His calculations had agreed with his partner’s so-called ‘gut instinct’ that this case would be an easy one and that Lieutenant Anderson would stay unharmed if he would stay in front of him. So, he was comfortable with standing where he was.

 

“If she is not home, I will-!” threatened Hank when he heard Connor approaching but the door opened before he could finish the sentence.

 

Connor could just see the face of an elderly woman. Her hair was pulled back into a tight knot and her gown, which had a deep red colour, was closed by a belt.

 

“Good evening, Madame. Are you Mrs…”, Hank’s eyes moved to his pad which had the name and address of the caller written down, “Mrs. McLeen?”

 

“Yes.”, Mrs. McLeen brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear and brought her arms back to cross them in front of her body.

 

“Lieutenant Anderson and Detective C-”

 

“Oh, you are the police officers!” said Mrs. McLeen surprised and interrupted Hank’s introduction. “I did not think anyone would show up.”

 

“Well, we take phone calls from worried citizens very serious so-.”

 

“Took you long enough to arrive here!”

 

Connor could see how Hank’s posture changed. Someone who didn’t know him well could not tell the difference, but Connor saw the hardening of his muscles. He was obviously trying to stay calm.

 

“Right…” said Hank and cleared his throat. “So, you saw a stranger enter your neighbour’s house?”

 

“Well, I did not actually see a stranger. I know it. It was Rosa’s Garden-Android, or whatever it is called. it entered but stayed longer than usually. I think it stole something from Rosa! You know, she is on holiday. Haven’t seen her for quite some time.”

 

“I assume _Rosa_ is the neighbour?” asked Hank, visibly getting angrier by the minute.

 

“That’s right.”

 

“And why exactly would you assume that the gardener would steal anything?”

 

The woman looked shocked. “Did you not hear me? It stayed way too long in her house! No amount of plants could keep it inside for so long.”

 

“Any other signs…?”, asked Hank. He obviously was hoping for a better reason.

 

When the woman shook her head, Hank placed his pad back inside his jacket. “Well, thank you for your cooperation. We will look into it.”

 

Just as the Lieutenant was about to turn around Mrs. McLeen spoke once again, “You know. I never trusted these machines. They’re all just cold metal which need way too much electricity.”

 

Connor, who had been silent for the whole of the interrogation, raised his voice for the first time.

 

“Actually, we power ourselves by walking and a simple battery that lasts for the duration of a human life.”, said Connor from his position behind Hank and showed a friendly smile. “So, we actually don’t need any electricity like humans do. Good evening, Madame.”

 

Mrs. McLeen’s expression went from shocked to offended in a moment’s time when she realised that one of the officers was an Android. Connor found it quite amusing.

 

The Android walked with quick steps away from the house and crossed the street. Hank was walking slightly behind him.

 

“You know, the reason why you don’t get the good cases is me.” stated Connor as they entered the small garden in front of Rosa Walker’s house. “They are testing if I can still do my job and you have to suffer.”

 

“Are you serious?!?”

 

Connor turned around in confusion to look at Hank. Behind him he could still see Mrs. McLeen watching them from her doorway.

 

“I thought you knew that.”, said Connor. “I wanted to apologize and thank you for your cooperation and your willingness to work with me.”

 

Hank was shaking his head and looked quite annoyed, “I did not mean the fucking cases! Are we really not talking about the fact that this nasty woman just insulted you in front of me? _Multiple times!”_

 

“Well obviously she had her reasons.”

 

“She had her reasons for calling your people junks of metal?!”

 

Connor shrugged with his shoulders, turned around once again and scanned the door.

 

“The door was recently broken open. Somebody tried to paint over the broken wood.”

 

“What?! Really?” asked Hank and was pulled back into the case. He stepped closer to the door and looked at the fresh coat of paint near the lock. “You are actually right. And you know what?”

 

Connor looked at Hank and made a questioning sound. Head slightly tilted to the side. “Mhm?”

 

“The door is open.” Hank said and pushed with the tip of his fingers against the door.

 

The door swung open and something could be heard falling to the floor. Hank’s hand automatically went to his gun by his waist and the other blocked Connor from walking any further.

 

The two detectives did not move as they waited for any other signs coming from inside the house.

 

“I am not able to detect any living being in the house, Lieutenant.” said Connor, “And I think the sound came from a piece of cardboard.”

 

The Android carefully pushed Hanks arm down and took the first step into the house. He swiftly took a small piece of cardboard from the floor and showed it to Hank while his LED was spinning yellow.

 

“My conclusion after my scan is that this piece of cardboard is a security measurement to keep any intruders out.”, said Connor, “If someone opens the door who does not know about the existence of it between the door and the frame- “

 

“The intruders know someone was here.”, finished Hank and shook his head. “Do you honestly think I don’t know this trick, smartass? So, we know someone was _actually_ here. Damn, the bitch next door was right.”

 

After letting his partner enter the building, Connor closed the door and pushed the cardboard gently back between the door and its frame. When he was satisfied with his work he joined Hank in the search through the house for any signs of a break in. After they had had a quick sweep in the rooms on the ground floor they took the stairs upstairs.

 

“You might stop calling our witness such rude things.”, said Connor as they walked up the stairs silently.

 

“What?” said Hank startled as they entered the bedroom.

 

“You called the witness a “prostitute” which is socially not advisable.”

 

“You know what Connor? I will stop calling people a bitch when they stop treating Androids like shit.”, said Hank calmly and took a quick look around the room.

 

The Android left the bedroom and walked straight ahead into a room which used to be an office. Bookshelves and a desk covered one side of the room whereas the other side was occupied by a big and quite heavy looking couch and an old wooden trunk which was used as a couch table. A door to a walk-in closet could be seen behind the pieces of furniture. Two large windows covered the majority of the wall opposite the entrance.

 

Connor raised his voice, so he could be heard by Hank in the other room as he entered the room fully. “You are police and it is socially not advised to call people by that name.”

 

Hank joined Connor seconds later in the office. “Are you implying that calling Androids ‘shit pieces of metal’ is socially acceptable?!”

 

Connor shrugged again and started to scan the room which let his LED turn yellow.

 

“I can’t fucking believe it.”, Hank was shaking his head, “Never fucking ever talk about yourself or your people like that ever again, understood?!”

 

The Android walked to the window and analysed the surrounding area. The front yard, which they had just walked through, could be seen from where Connor stood. “Are you threatening me to think better about humans?”

 

“Fucking no! I wanted to say that you should not let people say things like that to your face.”

 

“Thank you, Hank, but your people still need time to trust us.”

 

“She did not belong to my people! My people call you free and not _fucking pieces of metal_ , Jesus Christ!” said Hank and started to look through the bookshelf just next to the door they had come in.

 

Connor showed a small innocent smile and walked around the couch to get to the slightly open door of the walk-in closet. His eyes fell on a quite big travel bag which had been hidden behind the couch.

 

“My sensors are indicating that in this bag are several magazines of bullets and at least two- no three heavy guns.”

 

Hank suddenly turned around and joined Connor behind the couch. He opened the zipper of the dark bag and looked at several hand- and shotguns. “Can you read any fingerprints?”

 

Connor’s LED turned once again to yellow and back to blue.

 

“I read three. They are registered.” Connor took a quick look into the closet, which was empty and walked once again around the couch. “The fingerprints belong to Mike, Bruno and Cray Sholto.”

 

Connor stopped talking the moment his eyes fell on the wooden trunk.

 

“Why would someone break in and leave a bag with guns behind.”, asked Hank out loud and whipped his head around when he heard Connor open the top of the trunk.

 

Hank got back to his feet and just saw how Connor let the trunk fall close again with LED spinning red.

 

“What the fuck happened?!”

 

“I did not expect a body to be in the trunk.” said Connor with a slightly shaking voice.

 

“A BODY?! Are you kidding me?!” asked Hank bewildered and walked around the couch to join Connor, LED now yellow.

 

“I can’t fucking believe it!” muttered Hank and lifted his hand to take the handle of the trunk.

 

Just when Hank was about to pull the heavy piece of wood Connor’s hand shot out to grab one of his arms.

 

Hank turned his head in confusion to face his partner, but he was not looking back at him. His eyes were starring out of the window, LED turning yellow shortly after turning red.

 

“What the fuck is wrong, Connor?”

 

Connor’s head shot back to stare at Hank. “There-“

 

He got interrupted by the sound of the door opening downstairs.

 

Hank looked to the direction of the door they had entered in and understood what was happening. They were here. The men, which had most probably killed the person in this trunk in front of him, were in the house.

 

He had to act fast. Hank only had one gun and he did not know how many people there were and how many of them were armed. They might bring more weapons to match the number of guns they already had here in the black bag behind the couch. Either fight with only one single handgun or hide.

 

When Hank heard the first steps on the staircase he had to make a decision. Hank twisted the arm Connor was still holding to grab his partner’s hand. He pulled him to the only place to hide in the room: the closet behind the couch. Without making any noises Hank opened the door and pushed the shocked Connor inside the small space. The dark room got illuminated by the yellow flashing LED on the Android’s temple. Before Hank entered the closed himself he closed the still open bag with the guns and joined Connor in the closet. He closed the door, pulled out his gun and pushed Connor behind him, so he was in the corner farthest from the door.

 

Four men entered the room. They were not talking when they let their bags fall to the ground. One of them walked with fast and determined steps to the window and pulled the curtains close.

 

The one closest to the desk pulled out a big plastic sheet from one of the bags and started to unroll it in front of the trunk.

 

“You need to call the cops! Send them our address and that they should send reinforcement.” Hank whispered and then put a finger on his lips.

 

Connor’s LED suddenly turned red and he moved his brows like he was thinking quite hard.

 

The tallest of the three men stood at the entry of the room. He had a phone in his hand and was furiously typing on it. Suddenly he looked to the direction of the couch and the closet where Hank and Connor were hiding.

 

“Push the furniture to the wall. Get the fucking sofa out of the way. We need the space.”, he barked and waved his arm vaguely to the direction of the couch, “And put some fucking music on.”

 

The blond one walked to the couch and pushed it against the wall, so the door was blocked. In the same moment someone turned on their mobile phone and played some kind of rap music.

 

Hank silently cursed when he realised that they were trapped inside the small closed. He put his gun back into his holder and pushed his hand though his hair. The one good thing in this situation was that the men were obviously unaware of their location, so if the two of them would stay silent there was no chance that they would get located.

 

In this exact moment, when Hank thought that their situation could have been worse, he felt that Connor was grabbing his jacket for dear life. Slowly to not let any of the dusty boxes fall to the floor he turned around and looked at Connor.

 

The LED at his temple was shining in an angry red and he looked to the floor. His expression was one of pure terror. The hand which had just grabbed Hank’s jacket was now shaking by his side and his second hand joined shortly after.

 

Hank felt panic rise in his stomach. He grabbed Connor by his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. Even through the fabric of his suit jacket the Android felt ice cold.

 

“Connor, what is wrong?!” he whispered.

 

The men in the living room were still setting up their equipment and had started to talk in Russian but Hank was not interested in the scene that was playing outside their small space. All his attention was focused on his partner and friend which was having difficulties.

 

“Are you malfunctioning?!”

 

“I can’t breathe!”

 

“What? Connor, you don’t have to breath!”

 

Connor swallowed and looked into Hank’s eyes.

 

“Get me out of here!” pleaded Connor.

 

Hank just knew something was not going by plan. Never had he heard Connor talk with such a voice. He sounded- frightened. He even looked like he might start to cry.

 

“Please get me out of here.”

 

“Connor you need to calm down! Your LED is red as hell!”

 

Connor shut is eyes and squeezed them together. Hank could tell that he was in a lot of stress.

 

“At what level are you?”, asked Hank. He remembered what Conor had told him when they were interrogating their first Deviant case. If the stress level of an Android reached a certain point, they might self-destruct.

 

At this point Connor was shaking with his whole body. “86%”

 

They were fucked. He had to calm him down or Connor might pass out or even worse, shut down.

 

Hank turned quickly to see if the three men had changed any of their doings but turned back as quick as before when he saw that they had started to lift the body from the trunk. They would be busy for quite some time.

 

“You need to listen to me, boy.”

 

Connor now starred desperately into Hank’s eyes and once again clung to his jacket.

 

“You need to take some deep calming gulps of air and slow your heartrate down.”

 

“The walls! No space.”

 

“This room is not getting any smaller, Connor! You need to calm down.”

 

Connor was shaking his head violently and suddenly grabbed fistful of his hair.

 

“Please!”

 

“Connor! You need to listen to me.”

 

One of the Russians started some kind of modern cutting machine which let Connor freak out even more.

 

“I DON’T WANT TO BE REPLACED!” Connor screamed while backing even more into the corner.

 

Cardboard boxes fell to the floor and when Hank looked over his shoulder to check on the intruders they were all staring at the closet. The cutting machine, now covered in blood, got shut off. The three of them looked at each other in confusion while the rap music was still playing loudly.

 

Hank turned around, drew his gun and shielded Connor with his own body. Adrenalin rushed through his veins when he raised his arms to aim at the men outside the closet. The Android’s hands clung once again to the fabric of his jacket, but to Hank’s relief he could sense that the absence of the sound was somehow calming for Connor.

 

Just when one of them took a step in the direction of the closet they could hear the wail of police siren over the loud music. He felt a deep sense of relieve when he heard the familiar sound.

 

The men outside were looking at each other and started to speak angrily. One of them ran as fast as he could out of the room. The tallest screamed after him but gave up after a few seconds.

 

“Just get the fuck out of here and get the car.”

 

“But what about her?”

 

“JUST LEAVE IT!”

 

The rest of the group grabbed their bags, shut off the music ran out of the room.  

 

Hank had no idea how they could have been so lucky, but right now, he had no time relax because he still had to look after Connor, who hadn’t made a sound for quite some time. Hank turned around and placed a hand on his partner’s shoulder, “Okay they are gone.”

 

The silence that filled the closet after his last words were deafening. Connor war staring through Hank and the only thing that was moving was the slight flickering of his LED.

 

Hank did not even turn around. He let his body crash against the fragile door of the closet and tried to open it. Pain shot through his shoulder, but he tried a second time. The satisfying scratching sound of the couch could be heard from behind the door. It was moving.

 

Hank saw when Connor’s eyes rolled back into his head and he suddenly fell to the floor. With one final push, the sofa was out of the way and he could open the door. Hank had tried to catch him, but he just slid through his arms with a dull impact when he hit the floor.

 

“For fuck’s sake, Connor!”, swore Hank and kneeled down beside his partner.

 

Connor was now grabbing his own stomach and he was shaking vigorously. Hank tried to push his arms under Connor’s body and to lift him from his position on the floor. He was heavier than he looked but Hank somehow managed to carefully place him on the floor outside their small hiding place.

 

“It’s done. No small spaces anymore, Connor. You can breathe again.”, said Hank and tried to loosen Connor’s grip.

 

Slowly the LED turned to yellow and stayed for a while until it turned to a much calmer blue. Connor slowly opened his eyes and looked confused at Hank. His eyes flickered to a point just behind Hank when the officers entered the office. Hank turned around, nodded to say that they were okay and watched the police officer enter the room to take a look at the partly cut through body on the plastic sheet. When he turned around to look at Connor he had lifted his arms to cover his face.

 

“I’m sorry.” He simply said and stood up from his lying position. He crossed with slightly wobbly legs the room and left through the same door he had entered.

 

“What happened?” asked one of the officers that had just arrived.

 

“You are too fucking late. They are gone. Check the room fore finger prints.” Hank said and pointed to the sheet with the body on it. “They killed her some time ago and tried to cut her to pieces. We got surprised when we were searching the house, so we had to hide in the closet.”

 

Hank was just about to run after Connor when the officer spoke once again. “And what the fuck is going on with _it_?”

 

Hank turned around and grabbed the officer’s collar with a deathly grip. “Call him one more time ‘ _it_ ’ and I break your fucking nose. Maybe even more!”

 

The officer looked frightened and nodded to show that he had understood.

 

\---

 

Connor was standing hunched over in the front garden. His suit jacket was on the muddy ground. He was taking deep breathes through his nose and one of his hands was covering his mouth. He slowly straightened and put his hands on his hips. His white shirt was partly untucked. In short: Connor looked a mess.

 

“Care to explain what that was?”

 

“I apologized.”

 

Hank looked stunned and lifted his arms to display his confusion in a dramatic way. “For _what_ exactly?!”

 

“I acted unprofessional and probably cost you any new and more interesting cases with my malfunctioning.”

 

“So, you malfunctioned?” asked Hank and picked up the suit jacket. He deliberately ignored the apologizes coming from his partner. He had nothing to be sorry about.

 

“I assume, yes.”

 

“Because that looked more like you were frightened. You had a panic attack.”

 

Connor turned around and looked into Hank’s face. “Androids do not have panic attacks, don’t be ridiculous.”

 

“Well, it looks like deviants do.”

 

Connor fell silent and turned his head away from Hank. He looked ashamed. “It was horrible. It felt like I was dying.”

 

“Your body thought you were.” Hank walked to Connor’s side and brushed a spider web from his shoulder. “You cold?”

 

Connor nodded. “I still have problems adjusting. I don’t feel… well.” He said and ran his hand frustrated through his hair. “Thirium is pumping way too fast through my body and I feel like a need to eject something out of my mouth. Why would I need to know how vomiting feels like?! Why would I need that?”

 

Hank had to smile at Connor’s hair that was now standing up in every direction, but his smile fell as fast away as It appeared. It was disturbing to see this once so cold and calculated Android admitting to having feelings and to be in pain.

 

“And they saw it.”

 

“Who saw what?”

 

“The officers have seen me like that. When I was malfunctioning.”

 

“For fuck’s sake you were not malfunctioning! You showed a human reaction to a situation you felt uncomfortable in.” Now Hank felt truly pissed. He could not hear more of this. “And who fucking cares if they saw it! They-“

 

“This will fucking have influence on your future cases and career! Don’t you understand?!” Connor shouted and placed his hands once again on his hips.

 

At first, Hank was stunned of the outburst but shortly after had to laugh. “Did you just swear for the first time?!”

 

Connor just rolled with his eyes but had to laugh as well. “You are an idiot.”

 

“Well thanks!” said Hank with a smile. “But it fucking won’t.”

 

Connor was visibly frustrated with the situation. Hank could tell by the yellow colour of his LED.

 

“You feel like going back?”

 

Connor didn’t even have to say anything. His expression and the quick colour change to red told Hank more than enough.

 

“That’s alright. We don’t have to.”

 

Connor covered his eyes with one of his hands. “Thank you, Hank.”

 

“Let’s go home.”, said Hank and pushed the suit jacket into Connor’s arms. “And carry your own shit!”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Before writing this I thought about the times Connor had to go back to CyberLife to go into stasis and about how small the cabin or capsules must have been to recharge. There must have been some weird noises as well! While thinking about this I imagined that Connor must have experienced this as something quite traumatising. So, how about Connor having a bad time while being in a really small room?


End file.
